According to CPE Analytics' Canadian Venture Capital Report, Canadian Startup businesses raised $3.371B in venture capital funding in Q1 2022. 145 financing deals occurred in the period. U.S. and international investors contributed 74% of the overall investment, amounting to $2.49B, with U.S.-based venture firms providing $1.98B, or 59% of the total capital. The Canadian VC firms contributed $303M, amounting to 26%. More: - The overall venture capital secured in Q1 of 2022 was the second-highest quarterly disbursement, with Q2 2021 holding the record for highest capital secured at $4.84B.
- Ontario received 83% of the total U.S. and foreign investments.
- In total, the region raised $1.34B, followed by Quebec and British Columbia at $989M and $547M, respectively.
- The city of Toronto secured over $1B in funding, while eight Canadian cities, namely Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Waterloo, Saskatoon, Mississauga, and Kitchener, collectively accounted for $3.23B or 96% of the total Q1 2022 funding.
- ICT firms led the overall investment with $2.12B, followed by cleantech, fintech, and biotech startups with $478M, $451M, and $268M raised respectively.
- Seed and pre-seed stage startups raised $79M from 25 financings.
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Crunchbase News rounded up the top sectors in which seed-stage startups received funding in 2022. Over 1,000 seed and pre-seed funding rounds in U.S.-based companies were analyzed. The top sectors identified include metaverse, NFTs, neurotech, alternative proteins, and fitness. Zoom out: - Following is a rundown of key seed funding rounds across the five sectors.
- Metaverse
- Metaverse fashion developer Space Runners secured $10M in a seed funding round in March.
- Digital collection showroom developer Cyber raised $6.7M.
- Virtual worlds producer Mirror World secured $4M.
- NFTs
- Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, nabbed $450M in funding.
- NFT collectibles data aggregator CryptoSlam roped in $9M.
- Sports prediction game platform Stakes received $5.3M.
- Neurotech
- Depression treatment brain-computer interface developer Inner Cosmos raised $10M in March.
- BrainLuxury, a brain performance optimization supplement manufacturer, raised $8.1M.
- Sleep health monitoring wearable startup Earable raked in $6.6M in January.
- Alternative proteins
- Change Foods, a company producing cheese using microbes and precision fermentation, received $12M.
- Ultra-high chickpea protein producer NuCier raised $4.5M.
- Fitness
- AI-powered personal fitness training platform Altis nabbed $10M across two seed rounds.
- Zygo, a startup developing audio headsets for swimmers, raked in $4.5M.
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Los Angeles-based venture firm Bonfire Ventures closed two funds with over $230M in capital. $168M of the funds is earmarked for its third flagship seed-stage focussed fund, while $63M is for its second opportunity fund for follow-on funding. Bonfire has over $1B in assets under management and has raised a total of five funds to date. More: - Bonfire aims to invest in 25 to 30 seed-stage B2B software startups with the new fund, acting as the lead in approximately 80% of its investments.
- According to the press release, just one-third of seed-stage firms make it to Series A; therefore, the company provides hands-on support to its portfolio companies from seed through Series A and beyond.
- Notable portfolio companies include Spekit, which recently closed a Series B funding round with $45M in capital, Aforza, a consumer goods company, and Swell, an e-commerce startup.
- The firm's successful exits include Moat, The TradeDesk, EmailAge, and Openpath.
- Oracle acquired Moat, while Motorola acquired Openpath.
- For their respective years, the firm's two primary funds performed in the top 10% of global venture capital (VC) funds.
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Michigan-based Acrisure closed its Series B-2 preferred equity financing round with $725M in financing at a $23B valuation. The company provides insurance brokerage, cyber, and asset management services to insurance, reinsurance, and real estate organizations. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority's wholly-owned subsidiary led the funding round. More: - Acrisure reported $3.5B in revenue and plans to utilize the new equity capital to back strategic acquisitions, expand its solutions portfolio, broaden marketing activities, and strengthen its workforce.
- The fundraising saw participation from Guggenheim Investments and Oak Hill Advisors.
- The company's new valuation is up 31% from its previous $17.5B valuation when it raised $3.4B in an equity fundraising campaign last March.
- Acrisure used the funding from the previous round to close over 130 acquisitions of independent insurance broker agencies and grow its revenue by 46%.
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Austin, Texas-based Onramp Funds, a working capital provider to small e-commerce startups, secured $42M in equity and credit financing. The incoming funds will be added to its working capital offering. The funding round was led by Luther King Capital Headwater Investments. More: - Onramp provides working capital to e-commerce startups based on the company’s sales forecast and takes a percentage cut from the revenue, usually 1%.
- Startups use the working capital for shipping, fulfillment, advertising, and inventory purposes.
- The company reported a 30% MoM increase in revenue.
- Onramp is CEO Eric Youngstrom’s second venture, having previously founded multichannel shipping data management platform ShippingEasy.
- Stamps.com acquired ShippingEasy in 2016.
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Finnish SaaS cybersecurity startup Hoxhunt raked in $40M from its Series B funding round. The company provides a gamified cybersecurity training platform for organizations. Level Equity Management led the funding round with participation from Icebreaker.vc, an existing investor. More: - The company intends to use the incoming proceeds to expand its presence in new markets, beginning with North America.
- To date, the company has secured $43M in total funding.
- Hoxhunt leverages machine learning to adjust the platform's difficulty by analyzing employees' skill levels and provides individualized phishing simulations.
- According to Hoxhunt CEO Mika Aalto, "Email is the biggest threat to enterprise security," with phishing emails initiating 90% of all cyber security breaches.
- Over 1 million people utilize Hoxhunt's platform, each receiving up to 36 individualized phishing simulations every year.
Zoom out: - Spending on cybersecurity is expected to rise to $458.9B in 2025, with associated costs expected to top $10.5T annually.
- In 2022, cybersecurity spending hit $262.4B.
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Quick Hits: - 64% of companies used this channel to generate nearly half of their revenue — and it’s not paid ads or content.*
- Ultima Genomics is set to raise $600M from Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, General Atlantic, D1 Capital, and others. The company aims to bring a cost-effective genome sequencing solution to the market.
- Hannah Grey closed its oversubscribed inaugural venture fund with $51.6M in capital commitments from several LPs, including Screendoor Partners, JPMorgan, Twitter, Carta, Stagwell Group, Insight Partners, Equity Alliance, and others. The firm invests in pre-seed and seed stages with individual check sizes ranging from $400,000 to $1M.
- U.K.-based crop protection discovery started moa Technology Limited netted $44M in financing from a Series B fundraising led by Lansdowne Partners with participation from Oxford Science Enterprises, Parkwalk Advisors, IP Group, and others.
- British digital bank Kroo received $33M (£26M) in funding from its Series B funding round. Funding round participants were not disclosed; however, the company claimed that over 60% of existing investors participated in the funding. The company expects to raise new funds in 2023.
- Tikehau Ace Capital, Bpifrance, and Auriga led a $30M funding into San Francisco-based cybersecurity firm Vade.
- Blockchain-based code and data sharing platform Vendia secured $30M in a Series B fundraiser led by NewView Capital. Other participants in the funding include Neotribe Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Sorenson Capital, Aspenwood Ventures, and BMW iVentures.
- Financial institutions are leaving workers behind. Find out if you’re one of them.*
*This is sponsored content.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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